Owls fans await transfer window with trepidation.

Last updated : 13 December 2007 By C. Morris

The January transfer window brings with it a rush of interest and speculation for all clubs involved but Wednesday fans may be thinking that February can't come soon enough.

This is because over the past year or so, more key 1st team players have gone out of the window at Hillsborough than have come in.

Last January Wednesday fans were hoping to see a couple of additions to the team that could have spurred on a push for an end of season play-off place. In reality Leon Clarke, who has never managed to fit into the Wednesday team was the only permanent signing and defender Majid Bougherra turned his back on the club for a fleeting chance of Premier League football at Charlton. The new-year period saw results falter and despite the end of season form, the play-off hopes had all but gone.

Then in the summer, with an optimistic mood around Hillsborough due to the good finish to the campaign, fans favourite Steven MacLean was allowed to leave the club and main creator Chris Brunt then left before the window closed. Replacements Jeffers and Esajas have yet to make a telling impression due to injury and a lack of form and once again the Owls form suffered through the transfer period.

Fans will be hoping that the rumours linking key players with moves this time around don't come to fruition and that Wednesday can try and build or at least hold onto a team rather than dismantle it January.

From the view of an outsider looking in, it would appear that the board are under pressure to make immediate profits from players sales to ease the debts rather than building a longer-term plan to create a strong squad to challenge for promotion. While these sales may make money in the short-term the club cannot afford to risk another relegation to league one and also as we have seen this season, attendances are down at Hillsborough as fans become disillusioned with the clubs' current approach.